This is the second chapter of The Trial. I figured I'd post it sooner so
that I get into the real plot asap. Thanks to all who reviewed chapter one
and sorry to those who couldn't because my settings were on 'no anonymous
reviews.' Well guys, here is your chance to try it again ;)
BTW. almost all online DVD stores were sold out on YnM, but thanks for the suggestions you guys gave me. I got mine weeks ago from fetchamovie.com. Hasn't arrived yet, though.
Here is a Warning: I'm making up some stuff about Meifu and the gods and spirits of the after life here. It's all my own personal BS, made up by yours truly, and even more will come up in the following chapters. So please don't shoot me for it. I really, really need this stuff for the plot and I don't know anything about Japanese myths to make use of it.
............
The Trial - Chapter Two
Tatsumi quietly entered the chief's office and closed the door. He was called in unexpectedly from his business of managing accounts to see Konoe in his office and that didn't quite sit well with him.
"Please have a seat, Tatsumi-san."
Konoe wasn't at his desk. The older man was standing by the window looking outside at the gardens in a contemplative manner. Definitely not a good sign Tatsumi thought as he found himself a chair to sit down.
A moment of silence followed before Konoe finally turned around and walked back to his desk. He sat down, folding his hands in front of him and looking at his secretary who was the man he trusted the most. Tatsumi could see a hint of concern in his superior's eyes but, as always, he maintained his cool and professional poise.
"I had a message from Enma-DiaOh this morning. Something not so pleasant has happened in Meifu," the chief started.
Tatsumi's face remained detached as he took in the news. He didn't feel too concerned about it. After all, it didn't sound anything out of the ordinary conducts of JuOhCho. More often than not something unpleasant was happening in the world of the dead.
"They say" the chief continued, " a.disturbance has been reported from EnmaCho's Shokan Division, and it has had destructive effects on some of the higher beings."
That got the secretary's attention. He sat up in his chair, looking at his boss with a frown on his face. "What kind of a disturbance?" he asked.
Konoe took a deep breath and replied, "To be honest with you, Tatsumi-san, I am not sure. The message wasn't too clear. But it said it was some kind of an evil vibration coming from our department. Something having to do with demons or the residues of a kind."
Tatsumi grasped his chin with his fingers and looked to the side, thinking about what he'd just heard. It didn't sound rational to him. Since Tsuzuki's possession by Saagatanasu there hadn't been any major demon incidents in the Shokan devision, and that had been a while ago. No way anything of that beast could have stayed for so long. And even if that were the case, why would it rear its head now?
He dropped his hand and turned back to his supervisor. "What else did the message say about the disturbance?"
Konoe scratched his head as if trying to remember. "Well," he stated, "It said that this special kind of vibe wasn't something that shinigami or even higher authorities in Meifu could detect. The only reason it was noticed was because it had had an upsetting effect on the resident spirits of the Temple of Silence."
Tatsumi's eyes went wide. "You are saying it awakened.?"
"We're still not certain about that. Enma's message didn't say anything. But before we hear anything further from them we better get to the bottom of this thing, evil vibration or whatever it is. We should do our best to prevent disaster from happening before we hear it has happened."
Tatsumi's frown deepened and he sat back in his chair. He didn't like the sound of that one bit. The spirits of the Silent Temple were some of the most powerful beings in Meifu who spent their entire lives sleeping at the temple. Their sleep was the highest form of meditation that provided them with profound images and meanings about the lives and deaths of the creatures in the world. The knowledge and understanding they gained through this deep spiritual practice was a valuable source to Enma-DiaOh and other authorities in the Hades agency.
Which meant bad news for all of them if what Konoe said was true, especially since the Shokan division of the summoning agency, with its low- paid slacking employees and always indebt budget reports was a speck of dirt compared to the high standing residents of the Temple of Silence.
He stood up, every bit the stern and determined secretary he was known as. If any kind of trouble was caused by the department under his administration, he would be the one to take care of it as well as punish the culprit.
"I see to it that the matter is investigated, Konoe-kachou." He turned to leave.
"Tatsumi-san!"
Tatsumi turned back. Konoe's eyes were closed and his chin was resting on his tented hands so that all Tatsumi could see of his face was the part above his nose. It was a typical gesture for his boss when he was in deep thought.
"Don't say anything to anyone yet. We should await more information from higher ups. I will contact Enma personally to see what he has to say. But for now, we better keep the matter between ourselves." Konoe opened his eyes.
Tatsumi nodded, understanding his superior perfectly. "Hai."
The old kachou watched as his right hand man left the office. He sat there for a while, thinking different thoughts before rising from his chair and going to see if he could get anything new from his own superiors.
.....
That same morning.
"Ohayyyyyyyyyyo, Wakaba- chan! How are you doing?"
A joyful Tsuzuki followed by an eye-rolling Hisoka entered the infirmary room where Kannuki Wakaba was sitting on a bed with one leg hanging in a sling. She smiled as she heard the cheerful greeting from her most favorite trouble making coworker.
"Ohayo, Tsuzuki-san, Hisoka-san. I'm fine. Feeling much better already."
Tsuzuki gave her his trademark, cutesy grin as he plopped down next to her on the bed and held a jar sans the lid in front of her face.
"Look! I made jam. You should try it." He said excitedly.
Hisoka rolled his eyes again. Wakaba gave a nervous laughter and looked from Hisoka to the eager Tsuzuki and back a couple of times before waving her hands rapidly and saying, "Uh, hehe, maybe later Tsuzuki-san. I'm now.um, quite full."
Tsuzuki replaced the lid on the jar and set it on the table next to the bed, nodding his head politely. While doing all that he missed the relieved expression passing over his friend's face. He kept on babbling, "Ok, sure. But definitely try it later and tell me what you think. I took a lot of care to follow the recipe exactly this time. I'm sure everything is ok. It just looks a little sugary around the edges, and the color came out a little purplish, don't know why. I guess that's natural for some strawberry jams, isn't it?"
He turned to the patient on the bed and Wakaba quickly changed her nauseated expression into a cheerful one, much to Hisoka's amusement. She nodded enthusiastically. "Hai, I'm sure it is. I'll try it later, I promise." She gave him a genuine smile.
Hisoka came closer. "Why are you still in bed, Wakaba-chan? Watari said your leg's healed a while ago."
She turned her smile towards him. "I know." She looked at her foot and moved it up and down a couple of times as if to reaffirm that. "But my ankle is still weak. Watari-san said it was shattered in the accident, getting caught between the seat and the bus's door. So it took longer to heal even with shinigami powers. Now it's all right but I had it unmoving for so long that I need a few exercises before I can walk again." She wiggled it again and gave a small chuckle.
Hisoka shrugged. Tsuzuki looked at his female coworker and became serious. "Well, thank goodness you and Terazuma-san are safe. I heard that school bus accident was a really bad one. It wouldn't have killed you but it could have injured you pretty bad."
Wakaba bobbed her head. "I know, good thing Terazuma-chan wasn't on the bus when it happened. I couldn't have taken all the kids out without his help, being injured and all. And thanks to him, their souls are all safe now and can heal here before they can return to their bodies and wake them up from their coma."
Tsuzuki's eyes became round. "You mean you took those injured kids' souls here?"
As if on cue, the door to the room burst open and a gang of grade school kids ran inside.
"Hiiiiiiiiiiiii, Wakaba-chaaaaaaaaaan! You promised you would play with us."
"Hey, are these your friends?"
"What is this? Looks like jam but why is it purple? Is this a new kind of silly putty? "
Tsuzuki frantically looked around as the kids took the room by storm. All of a sudden he got angry chibi and all googly eyed as he noticed the kid who was sticking his finger in his carefully crafted strawberry jam.
"Hey, watch that you. That is for Wakaba-chan."
Wakaba waved her hand trying o calm them down. "No no. Let him have it. You can make me more later, ne Tsuzuki-san?"
Before Tsuzuki could reply the boy who was inspecting the jar scooped up a gob of jam and threw it at another kid standing next to the bed. It hit her right in the face. The victim, getting annoyed, jumped at her friend and a fight over the jar of weird looking jam ensued. Tsuzuki twitched and that was the only warning Hisoka and Wakaba got before he had joined the melee on the floor, grabbing for the jelly jar like a five year old in a sandbox. The rest of the kids, seeing this as a totally fun situation, gathered around them and started cheering them on. It wasn't long before they too joined the scuffle and the room became a battle scene of screaming, jelly tossing youngsters.
Tsuzuki, for his part, was doing a great job as a 26-year-old looking 100- year-old guy not allowing any of them to take him down. Hisoka sighed as he looked at his partner's jelly smeared face while the man was holding a hysterically screaming kid down and rubbing the purple goo into his face. Two other kids were hanging from the shinigami's neck, pushing and pulling like mad monkeys in a mating ritual and their cheerful screams almost drowned Tsuzuki's rabid chattering of: "I'll show you, you brats."
For the third time that day, Hisoka rolled his eyes and looked at Wakaba in total desperation.
"See what I have to put up with everyday?"
The female shinigami chuckled in reply. "Oh, but that is the best thing about Tsuzuki-san. You see, he's such a kid himself. It only makes him all the more charming."
"Yeah," Hisoka mumbled. "I just wished he could go and charm someone else, and not when we're on our shift."
Wakaba eyed him caringly. "Oh, Hisoka-kun. Don't be mad at Tsuzuki-san. He's doing a good thing for these kids. You see, they are traumatized and don't know where they are. Even though the truth is that we'll bring them back to ChiJou after their recovery, there's still the chance that they might get confused and think they are dead not wanting to go back. So it is good to cheer them up and keep them in high spirit." She motioned towards Tsuzuki who was holding the now empty jar of jam victoriously over his head and the kids jumping around him trying to get to it.
Hisoka shook his head in semi agreement before walking up to his silly looking partner and his entourage and pulling him out of the chaos. While he was at it, he turned back to Wakaba and said, "I guess we should be out of here now.. Damn it, Tsuzuki. Would you stop that for a second? Wakaba- chan, it was nice seeing you. Let us know when you get out of the hospital."
Wakaba beamed at him and held up a hand for bye, chirping, "Sure, Hisoka- chan, Tsuzuki-chan. Take care of yourselves. And thanks for stopping by."
Tsuzuki stopped his struggle long enough to say a hasty bye before he was dragged out by his partner. Wakaba listened to their voices echoing through the corridor, "I said stop that, you baka. Now we'd have to go to the washroom so that you can clean up that silly face of yours."
She sighed and shook her head, giggling slightly.
The two shinigamies went to the washroom and Tsuzuki washed the remainder of the battle from his face. He was complaining about Hisoka not letting him enjoy his victory for taking the jar from those kids.
Hisoka huffed, "If you act just a bit more your age, you wouldn't have to fight them for your precious purple jam."
Tsuzuki made a puppy face. "But Hisoka, they were a bunch of brats."
"So? And what are you? Look at yourself. You made a fool of us in front of Wakaba and the entire hospital staff."
That made Tsuzuki sprout a tail and two fuzzy ears. "But Hisoka." he started whining when he saw Hisoka pale slightly and lean on the counter for support. Tsuzuki rushed to his side immediately.
"What happened?" he asked.
Hisoka took a few deep breaths and answered, "Nothing. I'm still a little short on sleep."
"The curse marks."
". hurt every night. Yes, that is exactly what it is. But now, at least, I know what is causing it."
Tsuzuki's eyes darkened. He grabbed a towel and wiped the water off his face before saying, "Let me guess. Muraki." It wasn't even a question.
Hisoka closed his eyes. "Yeah," he said softly, "he appeared in my dream last night and told me why he was doing it. He said it was some kind of an experiment, or just that he wanted to get back at me for Kyoto."
Tsuzuki's anger was palpable. "Why, that bastard. If I get my hands on him."
Hisoka looked at him worriedly. "No Tsuzuki. You'd better stay as far away from him as possible. We both know this is all because he wants you to fall into his hands again. I can't let that happen. Besides, if it's just a damned experiment or petty revenge, I'm sure he will tire of it soon."
"But, it will hurt you so much in the mean time."
"I can.take care of myself." Hisoka looked away. "I don't want you involved. I don't want him to touch you ever again."
"But."
They were both startled by the sound of an explosion coming from outside. Tsuzuki grabbed Hisoka's arm and they both ran to the window.
"What was that?" Tsuzuki asked. Hisoka was about to say something when he looked over to where he saw smoke rising and his voice caught in his throat.
"Hisoka, what is it?" Tsuzuki asked anxiously.
"Look." Unable to say anything more, the boy pulled on his partner's sleeve and pointed in the direction he was looking.
Tsuzuki's face took on the same stunned look as Hisoka's when he saw what he was showing him. Still, he was able to speak when he got over his shock. "What the hell is that?"
tbc
-----------
Yeah I know, a cliffhanger. Wasn't deliberate though; I didn't mean for this chapter to be this long, but the hospital scene and the images of Tsuzuki fighting with kids just got me. I promise I'll get to the angsty parts soon, just hang in there. And while you're at it, why not give this lonely, tired writer some reviews. It's nearly 1:15 in the morning here :)
BTW. almost all online DVD stores were sold out on YnM, but thanks for the suggestions you guys gave me. I got mine weeks ago from fetchamovie.com. Hasn't arrived yet, though.
Here is a Warning: I'm making up some stuff about Meifu and the gods and spirits of the after life here. It's all my own personal BS, made up by yours truly, and even more will come up in the following chapters. So please don't shoot me for it. I really, really need this stuff for the plot and I don't know anything about Japanese myths to make use of it.
............
The Trial - Chapter Two
Tatsumi quietly entered the chief's office and closed the door. He was called in unexpectedly from his business of managing accounts to see Konoe in his office and that didn't quite sit well with him.
"Please have a seat, Tatsumi-san."
Konoe wasn't at his desk. The older man was standing by the window looking outside at the gardens in a contemplative manner. Definitely not a good sign Tatsumi thought as he found himself a chair to sit down.
A moment of silence followed before Konoe finally turned around and walked back to his desk. He sat down, folding his hands in front of him and looking at his secretary who was the man he trusted the most. Tatsumi could see a hint of concern in his superior's eyes but, as always, he maintained his cool and professional poise.
"I had a message from Enma-DiaOh this morning. Something not so pleasant has happened in Meifu," the chief started.
Tatsumi's face remained detached as he took in the news. He didn't feel too concerned about it. After all, it didn't sound anything out of the ordinary conducts of JuOhCho. More often than not something unpleasant was happening in the world of the dead.
"They say" the chief continued, " a.disturbance has been reported from EnmaCho's Shokan Division, and it has had destructive effects on some of the higher beings."
That got the secretary's attention. He sat up in his chair, looking at his boss with a frown on his face. "What kind of a disturbance?" he asked.
Konoe took a deep breath and replied, "To be honest with you, Tatsumi-san, I am not sure. The message wasn't too clear. But it said it was some kind of an evil vibration coming from our department. Something having to do with demons or the residues of a kind."
Tatsumi grasped his chin with his fingers and looked to the side, thinking about what he'd just heard. It didn't sound rational to him. Since Tsuzuki's possession by Saagatanasu there hadn't been any major demon incidents in the Shokan devision, and that had been a while ago. No way anything of that beast could have stayed for so long. And even if that were the case, why would it rear its head now?
He dropped his hand and turned back to his supervisor. "What else did the message say about the disturbance?"
Konoe scratched his head as if trying to remember. "Well," he stated, "It said that this special kind of vibe wasn't something that shinigami or even higher authorities in Meifu could detect. The only reason it was noticed was because it had had an upsetting effect on the resident spirits of the Temple of Silence."
Tatsumi's eyes went wide. "You are saying it awakened.?"
"We're still not certain about that. Enma's message didn't say anything. But before we hear anything further from them we better get to the bottom of this thing, evil vibration or whatever it is. We should do our best to prevent disaster from happening before we hear it has happened."
Tatsumi's frown deepened and he sat back in his chair. He didn't like the sound of that one bit. The spirits of the Silent Temple were some of the most powerful beings in Meifu who spent their entire lives sleeping at the temple. Their sleep was the highest form of meditation that provided them with profound images and meanings about the lives and deaths of the creatures in the world. The knowledge and understanding they gained through this deep spiritual practice was a valuable source to Enma-DiaOh and other authorities in the Hades agency.
Which meant bad news for all of them if what Konoe said was true, especially since the Shokan division of the summoning agency, with its low- paid slacking employees and always indebt budget reports was a speck of dirt compared to the high standing residents of the Temple of Silence.
He stood up, every bit the stern and determined secretary he was known as. If any kind of trouble was caused by the department under his administration, he would be the one to take care of it as well as punish the culprit.
"I see to it that the matter is investigated, Konoe-kachou." He turned to leave.
"Tatsumi-san!"
Tatsumi turned back. Konoe's eyes were closed and his chin was resting on his tented hands so that all Tatsumi could see of his face was the part above his nose. It was a typical gesture for his boss when he was in deep thought.
"Don't say anything to anyone yet. We should await more information from higher ups. I will contact Enma personally to see what he has to say. But for now, we better keep the matter between ourselves." Konoe opened his eyes.
Tatsumi nodded, understanding his superior perfectly. "Hai."
The old kachou watched as his right hand man left the office. He sat there for a while, thinking different thoughts before rising from his chair and going to see if he could get anything new from his own superiors.
.....
That same morning.
"Ohayyyyyyyyyyo, Wakaba- chan! How are you doing?"
A joyful Tsuzuki followed by an eye-rolling Hisoka entered the infirmary room where Kannuki Wakaba was sitting on a bed with one leg hanging in a sling. She smiled as she heard the cheerful greeting from her most favorite trouble making coworker.
"Ohayo, Tsuzuki-san, Hisoka-san. I'm fine. Feeling much better already."
Tsuzuki gave her his trademark, cutesy grin as he plopped down next to her on the bed and held a jar sans the lid in front of her face.
"Look! I made jam. You should try it." He said excitedly.
Hisoka rolled his eyes again. Wakaba gave a nervous laughter and looked from Hisoka to the eager Tsuzuki and back a couple of times before waving her hands rapidly and saying, "Uh, hehe, maybe later Tsuzuki-san. I'm now.um, quite full."
Tsuzuki replaced the lid on the jar and set it on the table next to the bed, nodding his head politely. While doing all that he missed the relieved expression passing over his friend's face. He kept on babbling, "Ok, sure. But definitely try it later and tell me what you think. I took a lot of care to follow the recipe exactly this time. I'm sure everything is ok. It just looks a little sugary around the edges, and the color came out a little purplish, don't know why. I guess that's natural for some strawberry jams, isn't it?"
He turned to the patient on the bed and Wakaba quickly changed her nauseated expression into a cheerful one, much to Hisoka's amusement. She nodded enthusiastically. "Hai, I'm sure it is. I'll try it later, I promise." She gave him a genuine smile.
Hisoka came closer. "Why are you still in bed, Wakaba-chan? Watari said your leg's healed a while ago."
She turned her smile towards him. "I know." She looked at her foot and moved it up and down a couple of times as if to reaffirm that. "But my ankle is still weak. Watari-san said it was shattered in the accident, getting caught between the seat and the bus's door. So it took longer to heal even with shinigami powers. Now it's all right but I had it unmoving for so long that I need a few exercises before I can walk again." She wiggled it again and gave a small chuckle.
Hisoka shrugged. Tsuzuki looked at his female coworker and became serious. "Well, thank goodness you and Terazuma-san are safe. I heard that school bus accident was a really bad one. It wouldn't have killed you but it could have injured you pretty bad."
Wakaba bobbed her head. "I know, good thing Terazuma-chan wasn't on the bus when it happened. I couldn't have taken all the kids out without his help, being injured and all. And thanks to him, their souls are all safe now and can heal here before they can return to their bodies and wake them up from their coma."
Tsuzuki's eyes became round. "You mean you took those injured kids' souls here?"
As if on cue, the door to the room burst open and a gang of grade school kids ran inside.
"Hiiiiiiiiiiiii, Wakaba-chaaaaaaaaaan! You promised you would play with us."
"Hey, are these your friends?"
"What is this? Looks like jam but why is it purple? Is this a new kind of silly putty? "
Tsuzuki frantically looked around as the kids took the room by storm. All of a sudden he got angry chibi and all googly eyed as he noticed the kid who was sticking his finger in his carefully crafted strawberry jam.
"Hey, watch that you. That is for Wakaba-chan."
Wakaba waved her hand trying o calm them down. "No no. Let him have it. You can make me more later, ne Tsuzuki-san?"
Before Tsuzuki could reply the boy who was inspecting the jar scooped up a gob of jam and threw it at another kid standing next to the bed. It hit her right in the face. The victim, getting annoyed, jumped at her friend and a fight over the jar of weird looking jam ensued. Tsuzuki twitched and that was the only warning Hisoka and Wakaba got before he had joined the melee on the floor, grabbing for the jelly jar like a five year old in a sandbox. The rest of the kids, seeing this as a totally fun situation, gathered around them and started cheering them on. It wasn't long before they too joined the scuffle and the room became a battle scene of screaming, jelly tossing youngsters.
Tsuzuki, for his part, was doing a great job as a 26-year-old looking 100- year-old guy not allowing any of them to take him down. Hisoka sighed as he looked at his partner's jelly smeared face while the man was holding a hysterically screaming kid down and rubbing the purple goo into his face. Two other kids were hanging from the shinigami's neck, pushing and pulling like mad monkeys in a mating ritual and their cheerful screams almost drowned Tsuzuki's rabid chattering of: "I'll show you, you brats."
For the third time that day, Hisoka rolled his eyes and looked at Wakaba in total desperation.
"See what I have to put up with everyday?"
The female shinigami chuckled in reply. "Oh, but that is the best thing about Tsuzuki-san. You see, he's such a kid himself. It only makes him all the more charming."
"Yeah," Hisoka mumbled. "I just wished he could go and charm someone else, and not when we're on our shift."
Wakaba eyed him caringly. "Oh, Hisoka-kun. Don't be mad at Tsuzuki-san. He's doing a good thing for these kids. You see, they are traumatized and don't know where they are. Even though the truth is that we'll bring them back to ChiJou after their recovery, there's still the chance that they might get confused and think they are dead not wanting to go back. So it is good to cheer them up and keep them in high spirit." She motioned towards Tsuzuki who was holding the now empty jar of jam victoriously over his head and the kids jumping around him trying to get to it.
Hisoka shook his head in semi agreement before walking up to his silly looking partner and his entourage and pulling him out of the chaos. While he was at it, he turned back to Wakaba and said, "I guess we should be out of here now.. Damn it, Tsuzuki. Would you stop that for a second? Wakaba- chan, it was nice seeing you. Let us know when you get out of the hospital."
Wakaba beamed at him and held up a hand for bye, chirping, "Sure, Hisoka- chan, Tsuzuki-chan. Take care of yourselves. And thanks for stopping by."
Tsuzuki stopped his struggle long enough to say a hasty bye before he was dragged out by his partner. Wakaba listened to their voices echoing through the corridor, "I said stop that, you baka. Now we'd have to go to the washroom so that you can clean up that silly face of yours."
She sighed and shook her head, giggling slightly.
The two shinigamies went to the washroom and Tsuzuki washed the remainder of the battle from his face. He was complaining about Hisoka not letting him enjoy his victory for taking the jar from those kids.
Hisoka huffed, "If you act just a bit more your age, you wouldn't have to fight them for your precious purple jam."
Tsuzuki made a puppy face. "But Hisoka, they were a bunch of brats."
"So? And what are you? Look at yourself. You made a fool of us in front of Wakaba and the entire hospital staff."
That made Tsuzuki sprout a tail and two fuzzy ears. "But Hisoka." he started whining when he saw Hisoka pale slightly and lean on the counter for support. Tsuzuki rushed to his side immediately.
"What happened?" he asked.
Hisoka took a few deep breaths and answered, "Nothing. I'm still a little short on sleep."
"The curse marks."
". hurt every night. Yes, that is exactly what it is. But now, at least, I know what is causing it."
Tsuzuki's eyes darkened. He grabbed a towel and wiped the water off his face before saying, "Let me guess. Muraki." It wasn't even a question.
Hisoka closed his eyes. "Yeah," he said softly, "he appeared in my dream last night and told me why he was doing it. He said it was some kind of an experiment, or just that he wanted to get back at me for Kyoto."
Tsuzuki's anger was palpable. "Why, that bastard. If I get my hands on him."
Hisoka looked at him worriedly. "No Tsuzuki. You'd better stay as far away from him as possible. We both know this is all because he wants you to fall into his hands again. I can't let that happen. Besides, if it's just a damned experiment or petty revenge, I'm sure he will tire of it soon."
"But, it will hurt you so much in the mean time."
"I can.take care of myself." Hisoka looked away. "I don't want you involved. I don't want him to touch you ever again."
"But."
They were both startled by the sound of an explosion coming from outside. Tsuzuki grabbed Hisoka's arm and they both ran to the window.
"What was that?" Tsuzuki asked. Hisoka was about to say something when he looked over to where he saw smoke rising and his voice caught in his throat.
"Hisoka, what is it?" Tsuzuki asked anxiously.
"Look." Unable to say anything more, the boy pulled on his partner's sleeve and pointed in the direction he was looking.
Tsuzuki's face took on the same stunned look as Hisoka's when he saw what he was showing him. Still, he was able to speak when he got over his shock. "What the hell is that?"
tbc
-----------
Yeah I know, a cliffhanger. Wasn't deliberate though; I didn't mean for this chapter to be this long, but the hospital scene and the images of Tsuzuki fighting with kids just got me. I promise I'll get to the angsty parts soon, just hang in there. And while you're at it, why not give this lonely, tired writer some reviews. It's nearly 1:15 in the morning here :)